1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to apparatus for securing the lower terminal portion of a pole or pole assembly in place.
2. PRIOR ART
Upright poles have been used for a variety of purposes in the past such as for holding street lights or, when used with a generally horizontal mast arm, for traffic lights. The lower parts of these poles in the past often passed through an upper central axial hole formed in a wider base to which it was welded. The bases were sometimes made of cast iron which made them quite heavy and bulky. They were expensive to ship both because of their weight and the space limitations on the quantity of them that could be shipped in any given carrier. These same characteristics also made such bases expensive to store.
These bases often had a number of inwardly turned "ears" welded to, integrally molded or otherwise affixed to the bottom of the base. These were intended to be respectively placed opposite one of a corresponding number of upstanding bolts protruding upward from a cement slab. The base also had a lateral hole large enough to enable the installer to stick his arm through it when the ears were aligned over the upstanding bolts and fully lowered to the slab. The installer could then fasten the ears within the base by nuts. However, in order to align the ears with the fixed bolts, it was necessary to revolve the base or pole-base assembly in a generally horizontal plane. Since the pole-base assembly might weigh, however, on the order of 150 pounds, the installer would either have to move it himself or ask for assistance from others. This, of course, required additional installation crew members and thus added to the cost of installation.
In recent years, government officials have begun to adopt the philosophy that such poles should be impact-yieldable. This philosophy is founded on the belief that if the pole was not a rigidly immovable object, it would prove less lethal to the driver of a car in the event that the car accidentally hit a pole.
It is therefore among the objects of the present invention to provide a pole-base mount which is less expensive to make, less expensive to install or store and less likely to inflict serious bodily damage upon the driver of a car which accidentally hits the mount.